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Saturday, 03 July, 2010

CAPTCHA Alternative

A slider that asks people to: "show us your human side; slide the cursor to the end of the line to create your account." Moving the slider to the right completely submits the form and triggers error validation just like a standard Submit button would.

Advances In Battery Insertion

Battery contacts designed based on InstaLoad technology enable users to insert batteries into a device in either + or - direction and the device simply works. Users do not have to search for a hard to read diagram to determine how to insert the batteries.

Bovine Miracle

A farmer in northern Egypt says his cow has given birth to a two-headed calf that he calls a "divine miracle."

Sobhy el-Ganzoury said Saturday it took two hours and much pulling to deliver the rare calf. He said the difficult birth has weakened the calf's legs. El-Ganzoury said the veterinarian informed him that the calf, which was born this week, is now in stable condition and is expected to survive.

He said he intends to keep the animal as a reminder that "God is able to do anything." The calf still can't stand up because of its heavy heads and weak legs, and is being fed her mother's milk with a baby bottle.

[wife's name omitted for privacy considerations] is a smart woman, and I applaud her purchase decision.

I've always been a fan of charcoal grilling. Unlike gas, it requires some advance planning, and (occasionally) some brain effort. I've learned that the speed at which the coals become ready depends heavily on the humidity of the area where the briquettes are stored. So I always plug a few variables into my mental spreadsheet to calculate the eating time. I'm almost always wrong, but that just makes it more fun.

Monday, 05 July, 2010

Concrete Sofa

UK-based Gray Concrete created this concrete Chesterfield sofa for exhibiting at 100% Design London. The sofa is made by taking a mold from a real Chesterfield, which is then used to make a glass textile reinforced casting. The cushions are a part of the casting.

Before making the mold, the padding inside the cushions was replaced with a rigid foam which was modeled to make "bum prints." The molding techniques used by Gray Concrete pick up detail really well so the concrete sofa really looks leathery. There's even a concrete 50p piece stuck down behind one of the cushions to complete the realistic effect.

Prime Minister Not Religious

Ms Gillard, who replaced Kevin Rudd as leader of the country in a dramatic political coup last week, said she had been brought up in a Baptist family, but had "made decisions in my adult life about my own views".

"I'm not going to pretend a faith I don't feel," she said. Ms Gillard's views on religion are in stark contrast to those of Mr Rudd, who was a regular at Canberra church services, and those of her rival, Tony Abbott, who once trained as a priest and is known as a devout Catholic.

Meanwhile, Snopes clears up Joe Biden's rosary quote from 2005. What he actually said was:

"If I'm the nominee, Republicans will be sorry," he said. "The next Republican that tells me I'm not religious I'm going to shove my rosary beads down their throat."

Tuesday, 06 July, 2010

Cars For The Blind

he National Federation of the Blind and Virginia Tech plan to demonstrate a prototype vehicle next year equipped with technology that helps a blind person drive a car independently.

The technology, called "nonvisual interfaces," uses sensors to let a blind driver maneuver a car based on information transmitted to him about his surroundings: whether another car or object is nearby, in front of him or in a neighboring lane.

Advocates for the blind consider it a "moon shot," a goal similar to President John F. Kennedy's pledge to land a man on the moon. For many blind people, driving a car long has been considered impossible. But researchers hope the project could revolutionize mobility and challenge long-held assumptions about limitations...

Advocates for the blind say it will take time before society accepts the potential of blind drivers and that the safety of the technology will need to be proven through years of testing. But more than anything, they say it's part of a broader mission to change the way people perceive the blind.